I have been on Zwift for over a year now and I love the cycling. There is so much to do and I find the races and events entertaining and I plan to get more into the workouts now that you have training plans. The scenery also plays a big part in the enjoyment…making even a leisurely ride seem like I am going somewhere and with sound included, basically interacting with the environment around me.
Lately I have been trying the running…or actually walking. I have a very wonky knee and about 3 mph with some treadmill elevation is basically my max speed. I truly wish I could go faster but even at that speed I have difficulties. So, I am slow but even at full running speed I cannot see it being very exciting to run a few miles vs the cycling experience over the same amount of time spent. My suggestion is just speed the runners up. Runners won’t be competing with riders head to head so there is no need for them to have the same mileage and when the runners are on the course the mileage can be adjusted to fit them. So if the distance from the Italian Village to the finish line is 3 miles (?) for the cyclists then for the runners it could be 2 miles or whatever. This would speed them up on the course but keep their mileage accurate. I think this would make the running experience more interesting and also bring more of the Zwift experience into play.
I see no need to artificially adjust the speed of the runner or the distance. Some (vast majority) use the distances and speed on screen for training, group runs and races. And, yes I have run on Zwift before and see no need to change any of the settings you are suggesting.
Just so you know that when a runner goes either up hill or down their speed does not change. So if a runner is going up hill he can actually pass a lot of cyclist.
Lets keep it somewhat realist as far as speed and distance goes.
Actually some pretty funny comments by the cyclists where I work about being passed by runners on the hills in Zwift.
I am not trying to suggest that there actually needs to be changes just that it sure would be nice to have something to interact with when running…it can seem pretty lonely and barren. I was the only running avatar the other night. I had just gotten off my bike and had a great workout in the last 15 minutes of my ride because I had picked up another rider and we were drafting and competing (As Zwift says “It is never an easy ride”…or some like that). I just think the running part seems for want of a better word, “lacking” in comparison to the cycling and I am just sort of brainstorming ways of making it better.
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There are running group rides, you can find them by joining the Zwift Runners group on Facebook.
I prefer to run and ride alone, over 3 years on Zwift and have never done a group work or race. I use the Zwift TT bike and hate when people try and draft off of me.